Puerto Rican actress Roselyn Sanchez on Thursday visited a group of children suffering from cancer at the San Jorge Hospital in San Juan and symbolically gave them a medal for participating in an upcoming triathlon to raise money to fight the disease.

Sanchez is the sponsor of the San Jorge Foundation, which organizes the annual Triathlon for Life.

“Here we’re winners because I’m seeing them once more, meeting new patients and listening to their stories. It’s difficult to speak with the parents of the kids, but you have to move forward,” Sanchez told Efe.

Among the children was one 3-year-old girl who, despite her illness, kept smiling the entire time the actress was chatting with her.

Sanchez said that she had to move away from the little girl because she needed to cry for a while when she thought of her 8-month-old daughter - Sebella Rose, whom she had with her husband, actor Eric Winter - in that situation.

“I can’t explain the feeling to you. It was from the fiber of a mother’s being. All these mothers had a healthy child, but suddenly they find something. In that girl, I saw my daughter and I asked God to take care of her for me,” she said.

The third edition of the Roselyn Sanchez Triathlon for Life will be held Sept. 9 in the eastern Puerto Rican city of Rio Grande.